Off-highway vehicles (“OHVs”), such as mining vehicles used to haul heavy payloads, typically employ motorized wheels for propelling or retarding the vehicle in an energy efficient manner. This efficiency is typically accomplished by employing a large horsepower diesel engine in conjunction with an alternator, a main traction inverter, and a pair of wheel drive assemblies housed within the rear tires of the vehicle. The diesel engine drives the alternator and the alternator, in turn, powers the main traction inverter thereby supplying electrical power having a controlled voltage and frequency to electric drive motors of the wheel drive assemblies. Each wheel drive assembly houses a planetary gear transmission that converts the rotation of the associated drive motor energy into a high torque, low speed rotational energy output which is supplied to the wheels.
Planetary gear transmissions are generally operated in a wet lubricated condition. As will be appreciated, it is generally desirable to minimize or prevent leakage of lubricants, e.g., oil, from wheel drive assemblies as such leakage leads to vehicle downtime for disassembly, inspection and repair.
In particular, OHV wheel assemblies typically include torque tubes to facilitate torque transfer to the wheels of the OHV. Torque tubes are generally secured to a body portion of an oil seal that forms an interface between the torque tube and a wheel frame of the wheel assembly. As will be readily appreciated, torque tubes are extremely heavy and are typically joined to the wheel frame by lowering the torque tube onto the wheel frame from above. During this process, special care must be taken to prevent the weight of the torque tube from crushing the seal between the seal ring and the torque tube and to set the proper clearance between the torque tube and the seal ring housing the oil seal.
In view of the above, it is desirable to provide an apparatus for installing a torque tube that facilitates the proper spacing between the torque tube and the seal ring and minimizes the risk of crushing the seal between the seal ring and torque tube.